GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Craig Heatherly said he was just was looking for a unique way to propose to his girlfriend, Linaya Hass.

He got a "yes" from Hass. Now, the newly engaged couple is getting plenty of love.

“It has been just unbelievable,” Heatherly, the assistant basketball coach at Davenport University, said of the attention his proposal Friday, Oct. 12, has gained worldwide.

Heatherly, disguised as the Panthers’ mascot, “Pounce,” at the university’s Midnight Madness kickoff event for the basketball season, arranged for a dance-off against Hass, Davenport’s head dance coach. After he feigned an injury and she approached him, he threw off the costume’s head and proposed. She said yes, jumped into his arms as players, cheerleaders and the crowd spilled onto the court to congratulate them.